Generally, chronic diabetics must conduct blood glucose tests at home every day to maintain the blood glucose at a constant level. To conduct such a blood glucose test, the blood of a diabetic must be collected. To collect the blood, typically, the diabetic pricks a location on his/her body, for example, a finger, with a disposable lancet and, thereafter, smears collected blood on a strip. The strip is mounted to a blood glucose testing machine so as to measure a blood glucose level.
As such, lancing devices have been widely used as devices for collecting blood. Such a lancing device includes a lancet holder, to which a disposable lancet is mounted, an end cap, which covers the lancet and has a hole such that only the end of a needle is allowed to pass through the hole when pricking the skin of the diabetic, and a spring and a percussion device, which generate a skin penetration force. To use the lancing device, first, the end cap is removed from the lancing device. Thereafter, the lancet is coupled to the lancet holder while the spring is contracted. In a state such that the spring is compressed, the end cap is again coupled to the lancing device. After the end cap is brought into close contact with a location of a user at which many capillaries exist, the lancet is actuated by manipulating a percussion switch. Then, the needle pricks the skin of the user. Thereafter, the user squeezes the area around the pricked portion to obtain sufficient blood. Subsequently, the user smears the blood on the strip and measures the blood glucose. In this process, because the needle of the lancet enters the skin of the user and is removed, the end of the needle of the lancet is smeared with blood of the user. If this lancet is not removed from the lancing device, the user may be exposed to a secondary infection. As well, if another person carelessly uses this lancet, cross infection may occur. Particularly, in the case of a contagious disease such as AIDS, a fatal result may be caused.
However, to date, there is no method of safely scrapping a lancet after a patient has used the lancet for blood collection. Because most lancets used in blood collection are scrapped along with general garbage, there is a possibility of infection. Moreover, there is a problem in that, when a person handles waste including lancets used in blood collection therein, the person may be pricked by the lancet, thus becoming infected.